Does anyone here use the WA7 with speakers and headphones? I'm wondering how awkward you find it to switch between them often compared to Amp/DAC combos with output selection on the front; and if you think the switch is durable enough to last with multiple uses a day over years.

Is everyone using foobar2000 with their WA7? I'm trying to get the best experience with this unit and would like some input for the source of the audio now.

thanks.

I am using Pure Music as player with my WA7 and must say I'm very pleased with the sound quality. With this setup I can play hi res flac files and store them in itunes. The Pure Music player is a serious upgrade Imho. They have a 15 day free trial if you want to check it out.

Does anyone here use the WA7 with speakers and headphones? I'm wondering how awkward you find it to switch between them often compared to Amp/DAC combos with output selection on the front; and if you think the switch is durable enough to last with multiple uses a day over years.

i do... or atleast that was my plan until I found that it doesn't output to RCA at the same time as headphones. So I ended up just continuing to use my HeadRoom Ultra Desktop Amp instead at home and dedicating the WA7 to my headphone only setup at work. It is really unfortunate actually that it does not do this as I would love to buy another unit to replace my HeadRoom amp at home since the WA7 sounds so much better.

This is actually my biggest complaint about the WA7, not being able to easily switch between the two or outputing both at once for example when you want the personal quality of a nice headphone like the T1 but the background chest thumping from a real sub.

I think the internal DAC sounds really d*mn good... can you really hear a difference using an external dac? Is it really worth the added expense and complexity? As it is alone sounds pretty much perfect to me but I don't have another dac to compare.

I agree with groovyd there is nothing wrong with internal DAC sounds pretty darn good to me. But then again I don't do any critical listing. That's why I'm also on the fence about upgrading my tubes. Because the way the stock wa7 sounds is awesome.

I think the internal DAC sounds really d*mn good... can you really hear a difference using an external dac? Is it really worth the added expense and complexity? As it is alone sounds pretty much perfect to me but I don't have another dac to compare.

It is a very good value product all in all. As I said, the DAC is about as good as a HRT microstreamer which is 200 dollars standalone- nothing to sniff at- and it can do higher bitrates than the HRT which makes it even more valuable.

However good this may be for the money, it still limits the capabilities of the amplification especially with the Electroharmonix tubes. I absolutely love the amp section of the WA7 which sounds like it is punching way above its weight (in terms of price). The DAC however is not as good. I think currawong and some other people have reported that they didn't see the need to replace the DAC with an outboard one (i think it was a CEntrance). However, prior to my WA7 ownership, i had all separates and remember how much difference a DAC change made to my system as a whole. (ibasso D4 lineoutl > audiogd DAC19DSP), so I couldn't help but wonder if the grass was greener on the other side.

I considered bypassing the 5v usb power being supplied the the WA7 DAC as a cheap band-aid, but with my tendency to upgrade my gear every 1-2 years, it didn't make sense if my next DAC was galvanically isolated and was self powered; i would have an iUSB (350 AUD) just lying around not being used. It would just be another thing to try to sell.

I recently went into the deep end and looked at some truly reference gear for a speaker setup and made a couple of new purchases. This was when I came to the realisation that the WA7 amp was just SO MUCH BETTER than what the DAC section was letting on. I'm not bagging the DAC, I'm just saying that the Amp section is just that good.

If only they had an Amp only version.

This is my current setup for those who were curious as to why I'm questioning their world views.

I agree with groovyd there is nothing wrong with internal DAC sounds pretty darn good to me. But then again I don't do any critical listing. That's why I'm also on the fence about upgrading my tubes. Because the way the stock wa7 sounds is awesome.

I would say the upgrade in tubes is worth it considering you will have a backup set of tubes anyway and then you have something to compare for yourself. I got my electro harmonic tubes via a second party that cryo treats them and for less then the Woo price. Not sure if cryo treatment improves the sound or longevity but some people swear by it. Anyway it gives you a replacement set of tubes incase anything goes wrong or even after the originals get old.